Hostage
by Championship Vinyl
Summary: One harrowing moment. Four different endings. Read all five chapters to find out what REALLY happens in this AU action scenario starring Ryan and Esposito. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll yell at me. xD Reviews are love, please.
1. Event

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**Okay, so I've decided to be thoroughly evil. THIS IS NOT PART OF ANY OF MY TIMELINES. It's pure Alternate-Universe crack, it's relatively short in total, and I would never actually **_**do**_** most of this to any of my favorite characters. Plus I don't own Castle anyway. End disclaimer.**

**Now then. This is a creative writing exercise I did. The first chapter, conveniently located below, is a scenario with a cliffhanger. ALL FOLLOWING CHAPTERS BEGIN IMMEDIATELY AFTER THIS ONE ENDS, and are SEPARATE ALTERNATE ENDINGS. Most importantly, ONLY THE **_**FINAL**_** ALTERNATE ENDING IS THE REAL REST OF THE STORY. Clear? I try to be. XD**

**There will be four alternate endings in total, meaning, this will be a five-chapter story by its completion. Without further ado, here's the inciting moment. **

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"Come on, Sam." Controlling the urge for his hand to quiver, Javier kept the barrel of his Smith & Wesson aimed steadily at their perp, Sam Egan, his finger waiting in the trigger catch. Surprisingly, outwardly, Javier kept his cool far better than he would have been expected to by anyone, because, taking Egan into custody wasn't the prevalent issue.

The gun that Egan was jamming into Kevin Ryan's ribcage, _that_ was the prevalent issue.

"Put the gun down, Sam," Javier tried again. "Nobody has to..." Here he swallowed a lump in his throat: "...die here tonight." God, if the man would just loosen his tense grip on that gun Javier could fire without starting a chain reaction...

Egan chuckled twistedly. "Somebody always has to die, Detective," he rasped. "That's the game, right?"

"This isn't a game, Sam, just put the gun down and I won't have to shoot you."

The cackle that seeped from Egan's throat was sickening. "You won't shoot me. If you shoot _me_, _I_ shoot your partner. Tell me, Mr. Copper, what do you think the odds are of him living through that? You think he'll die instantly, or does he look more like a 'bleed out' kind of guy to you?"

"_Shut_ up!" Javier barked. He followed it with a mental 'dammit:' he hadn't meant to lose his cool like that. He reeled it in quick, but not before Egan smiled, smug.

"Nice to see I can really get a rise out of you, Detective."

Javier fought back the bile rising in his throat, fixed on an unmovable expression, and spoke calmly, but not to Egan. "Ryan. You all right bro?"

The detective opened his mouth to speak - he would have said he was fine and not to do anything stupid - but he winced instead, as Egan tightened his claw-grip on his shoulder and jammed the gun harder into his side. "_You_ shut up! And _you_ don't talk to him! You're not in control here, Detective. How does it feel to know that there is _nothing_ you can do to save him!"

Silently, Kevin mouthed the words, 'Let him shoot and take him down.' Even if the implication made his stomach turn, the reassurance was enough for Javier to keep the shake out of his voice.

"There's _one_ thing I can do, Sam: I can blow you away..." Javier gulped, discreetly guiding a finger to make sure the safety was off his gun. "Let him _go_..."

There was a moment of silence. Ever-so-slowly, Egan grinned.

_Bang!_

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**I told you I'm evil. Oh, but that "**_**bang**_**" could mean **_**ever**_** so many things! :D Yeah, I do this stuff to Ryan and Esposito because I love them. Let the alternate endings begin. And, please still review, I'd appreciate it.**

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	2. Take One

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**ALTERNATE ENDING NUMBER ONE.**

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Sam Egan had been right. The moment he pressed down on that trigger, blasting a reddening hole in Ryan's coat, not even vigilant rage could keep the Wesson drawing a bead on him.

"_NO!_"

He should have shot. If he'd been thinking at all, he knew that he should have let Kevin lie where he fell, taken up pursuit on foot, and fired a debilitating but non-lethal bullet to drop the man in his place. But none of that happened. He couldn't. From the moment his anger-widened eyes saw his partner buckle with the force of a mac truck, crumpling at the knees, Javier's gun had dropped forgotten on the cement floor.

He didn't register Egan getting away, though a sharp female call of "_Police, freeze_," followed by two shots ringing out and a com radio's chirp of "We've got 'im," all told him that Egan wouldn't be getting away this time. He didn't even think of it until much later.

Belting over within the same millisecond, Javier dropped to his knees in time to catch his partner before his head could hit the cement. His hand fumbled wildly for his own radio, shaking so badly that he was surprised that it functioned at all. "Ten one-oh-eight, ten one-oh-eight, we have an officer down, repeat, ten one-oh-eight, officer down, badge four-one-four-three-six…" His throat constricted just from having to recite his partner's identification number, and before the com even hit the ground, he was already tearing off his jacket, balling it up and pressing the lining against the fresh black wound. God, why hadn't they thought to vest up; they'd been too arrogant…

Ryan hissed in a weak breath. "Agh…"

"I gotta do it, man, I'm sorry, you're bleedin' pretty damn bad…"

"Huh." Even in his state of half-consciousness, Kevin hadn't lost his sarcasm. "So…_that's_ what…that was…"

Javier disguised his mockable urge to say _Save your strength_ with a, "Yeah, yeah, shut up." Damn it, his jacket was really soaking…where the hell was the help?

"Oh, my _God_…" Javier didn't have to look up to know that that was Beckett's voice. He also didn't have to even glance to know she'd run over and was dropping to her knees beside both of them. With Javier applying pressure to the wound, she knelt behind Ryan and helped prop up his head. "When did - ?"

"'Bout a minute ago, but he's bleedin' out bad…"

Beckett was the first to register that Ryan's focus was wavering. He'd lost too much blood. "Ryan! Don't do this, Ryan, you _stay awake_, you stay _with_ me - that's an order, you got that?"

Very weakly, Kevin conjured up a grin. "Hey…it's Katie…showed up for _this_? …Coulda seen it in reruns."

Beckett only smiled at him, and even _that_ was an extraordinary fake. Because in her friend's ice blue eyes, she was watching her mother fade away again. Unable to hold the façade, she looked across at Javier. "You radioed?"

"Yeah, immediately, they should be on their way."

"They should be _here_, dammit. We got the guy with uniforms around the corner."

"Good. Hope the bastard rots after Riker's is through with 'im."

"You did everything you could, Esposi - "

"_No_," he said sharply, making eye contact with her for the first time. "_Don't_ go there. Don't you start givin' me that when you don't know what I did or didn't do. _I'm_ the reason he - "

At that moment, he felt warm blood soak through to his hand, and, cursing under his breath, he frantically rearranged his ruined jacket, trying to find a spot that could still absorb. By the time he'd realized that there wasn't one to be found, Beckett had removed her own, and was shoving it into his hands. He replaced it in no time, just as the blaring blue-and-red strobe filled the parking garage, punctuated by the bleating of a formerly distant siren.

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**So yeah, that was obviously the **_**expected**_** outcome; I'm sorry Ryan! xD Love reviews. ^^ **

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	3. Take Two

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**ALTERNATE ENDING NUMBER TWO.**

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Sam Egan hadn't seen Ryan's elbow coming. The moment the detective's arm lashed back to jerk his aim away, the killer's hand tensed, sending an errant bullet echoing into the parking garage wall. Before Egan could add so much as a growl of discontent to that action, Kevin jerked his head back into the man's nose, and that crack echoed too.

Blood trickled down Egan's rage-reddened face, reddening his entire palate for that matter. All of that had happened in the space of a single second, and now in the following one, Egan raised his mark for another shot. Knowing it was too late now to try and fell the felon, Ryan split one way and Esposito split the other.

A loud, rapid _crack-crack-crack_ rang out through the garage. Egan spun, trying to locate his moving targets, but he couldn't risk exposing his back to either cop, so he was forced to remain where he was standing, and he quickly drove his spine against the nearest wall.

Ryan's hands flew across his Marksman pistol, from the hiding spot where he was crouched behind a dumpster. He held the gun only millimeters above the pavement so that the empty shells dropping from it wouldn't clatter, giving away his position. Reloading had always been a precautionary task for him before; never a necessary operation to bring a serial into custody. He stayed there, breathing as shallowly as he could get away with, waiting for Egan to make his move. Listening. Planning: because if Egan found another target, Ryan would play decoy in seconds.

Back pressed against a pillar on the other end of the B Lot, Esposito, for his part, held his Smith & Wesson at an exact, academy-approved ninety-degree angle. And he was angry. There was a word for this, he thought sardonically. 'Bull.' And he was never any good at putting up with bull. Especially with dirtbags who tried to take his partner hostage. Didn't they know who they were dealing with? Obviously this crack hadn't read Heat Wave.

Silently, grouping his breaths along with the seconds, Esposito did a five-count, and then whirled out into exposure - "Yo _Sammy!_" - _bang, bang, bang_.

Growling in frustration, Egan spun on a heel, shooting two desperate shots at the general direction Javier's voice had come from, but in truth, he had no idea what he was shooting at. Javier had already slammed his back flat against the north side again, chest heaving from the adrenaline, out of the line of sight.

Both detectives waited in their places, Sam Egan growing angrier by the moment. After another solid ten-count of nothing happening, Javier decided to chance it. He leapt out of hiding and ran in hot pursuit of nothing more than closer shelter. Arms bent at right angles and legs flying across the pavement, he set his sights on another pillar identical to the first, and he was within almost thirty feet of it. And closing.

Egan wasn't slow. He saw the flight from the corner of his eye and whirled yet again, raising his aim.

Ryan knew his partner was on the run. He chose precisely that moment to jump up, standing beside his cover, elbows locked with the Marksman on-pointe. "Hey, Egan, little slow to react?" he shouted, firing one loud blast from the pistol.

Sam was quickly becoming wild-eyed out of anger and the rapid failure of his plans. The shot he fired at Ryan didn't even come close to his body, pinging off of a parking meter instead.

By this time, Esposito was safe, throwing a telepathic thank-you at his partner for his equally clairvoyant save. Not that it was the first time. "Not your best day, _is_ it, a-hole?" he called, and then with Egan still distracted, he fired two more shots, one of them embedding itself in Egan's upper shoulder. Playing chicken with your perps became a skill, and it did have perks.

It had downfalls too.

Egan's anger had condensed into a slow-building, psychotic cackle of a laugh. The sound echoed off the stucco walls. "You think you're real champions," came his voice. Loud. Hollering like the unhinged. "Well. You're nothing. Not yet."

After that, there was silence. Except for the echo of soft-soled shoes beating cement. Both chancing a look at the same time, Esposito and Ryan glanced just in time to see Samuel Egan disappearing over the fourth-level guardrail. Trading a look of panic and one-handing their firearms, the detectives booked it for the fire escape, pounding some cement of their own as they fell into pursuit.

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**You'll notice by now that each different ending starts with the words 'Sam Egan' and each explains the '**_**bang**_**' in a different manner. Hoping it's coming off creatively. This was my favorite alt ending, and was **_**almost**_** the real one, though the **_**real**_** 'real one' is…well, hopefully you'll enjoy it. XD Reviews are friends; not food. ;D **

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	4. Take Three

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**ALTERNATE ENDING NUMBER THREE.**

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Sam Egan didn't let the echoing crash of a car backfiring in the distance startle him one bit. It was more than vaguely disturbing - _eerie_, almost - the way he never twitched a muscle…in fact, he seemed to derive greater thrill from it. Of course, that could always have had to do with the fact that Esposito _did_ twitch just a little, as if wondering just how full of Sam Egans the world really was, and who was shot _now_. But he'd been a cop for years, and he knew the difference better than that.

Speaking of knowing differences. Years of diffusing situations like these told Ryan mentally that the less he said and the less he moved, the better. If he were Beckett, he might have tried some ex-Navy Seal type of arm bar and twist, one of those martial things he'd never really gotten…but Ryan wasn't her: he was an oddsman. And Sam Egan wasn't the kind of guy you tried things on if you weren't one _hundred_ percent sure they'd work.

He'd never been on the hostage side of a hostage situation before. In his mind, it was his own fault for letting Egan get the better of him in the first place. But he _damn_ sure wasn't going to sacrifice Esposito on a hail-Mary. Sure, he didn't want to be shot…but worse things had happened.

This was the job.

Speaking of the job. Esposito might have been hiding how badly he wanted to start shaking - not that it was even _controlled_ by want: this was a _reflex_ he was fighting - but Ryan knew. He knew because he knew his partner, and along with knowing his partner came the all-too-not-kidding knowledge that Esposito might very well, to put it badly, jump the gun. If he had the stubbornness of a wild horse, which he did, then his loyalty worked like blinders.

What scared Ryan almost as much - when he thought about it - was the knowledge that _he_ wouldn't be any different.

"I'm gonna give you a count to three." Esposito's slow, measured voice drew Ryan's attention back to him. If there was a 'later,' then later he'd have to reflect how odd it was to be staring down the familiar barrel of his own partner's gun. He watched Javier re-level his already-solid aim, hands locked together around the hilt, trigger finger ready to fire, jaw set against tipping his poker face in any direction. It was as intimidating as it had always looked from the co-firing end before, and Ryan hoped silently that Egan got the same message.

Apparently not, because the jagged breath of a chuckle came over his shoulder. "Go ahead."

The two words were meant as a taunt, but Javier had no plans to change tactics or let it get to him. This sick-job had a three-count and nothing more to let his partner go. He forced all the rough authority he had into his voice, speaking loud and clear. "One."

"One," Sam echoed, shrugging and letting loose a devil-may-care chuckle. He really hadn't been kidding when he'd referred to killing as a game: the man was as jovial as if he were playing Connect Four, only more psychotic.

Javier shook his head the smallest degree possible, telling the sickened feeling that just caused that he didn't have time for it. "Two," he called warningly.

The next second seemed to go by in half-time and slow-motion at the same time. Egan's grin half-twisted into a grimace, and he shoved a sudden dent in Ryan's stomach with the muzzle of the gun, and this time his return of "Two!" was half a shout, half a growl. The psychosis was violent when provoked, and Ryan hid his reaction to the pain as best he could. The trigger was within a millimeter of clicking, with the kind of pressure Egan was putting on it, and that knowledge formed a few sweat beads at the back of Ryan's neck. Still, he wildly mouthed a 'No' at Esposito. _Not worth the risk. Don't do it_.

Before the number had even left Sam's lips, Esposito had already made his mind up not to listen. Rationale was way too late, and he didn't care anymore.

"I said _no_!" Before Egan so much as finished his syllable, Javier clamped his finger down on the trigger and fired; once, twice.

Before the first shot had even finished its trip, Egan dove aside. The criminal bent Kevin with him, and before the two had finished stumbling left, Egan straightened his mark arm. Kevin shoved the man's elbow to throw the shot wide, but it wouldn't work twice.

_Bang!_

"_NO!_" The scream ripped from Kevin's throat as a blast was ripped in Javier's shirt. The sudden impact threw Javier's eyes wide, then clamped them shut as he collapsed. And, before Kevin could begin to expect a bullet of his own, or even register it, Sam Egan's hand de-clawed from his shoulder, and the suspect fled on foot toward the first exit.

Kevin couldn't have cared less. His badge was not his conscience. The same second he realized that he was free, he broke toward his partner and skidded onto his knees where he'd fallen, red already pooling across his clothing.

Unable to harness his mind into what else to do, Ryan clapped a hand over the gunshot and held pressure until he could manage to wrench his jacket off with the other. When Javier let out a long groan of pain, Ryan knew the bullet had broken a rib. Probably several.

"Hang on, man, you're gonna be fine…" God, he wished he could believe his own words. "This is nothin,' okay? Hang on. Please. We'll getcha home."

Esposito only managed to nod: his breaths were coming uneven and ragged; a slow exhale and a sharp, quick inhale. Ryan stuffed his coat against the rip, wishing there was something he could do to stop the bleeding, anything that wouldn't make the injuries worse…but there was only one more thing he could do at this point, and he did it by pulling his com radio from his belt.

"Beckett! Officer down - call an ambulance, get everyone on the lookout for Egan, we lost him…it's Esposito…!"

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**Well, if I was gonna do it to **_**one**_** of them, it's only fair to do it to the other… xD Yeah, sorry man. ^^ Anyway, this is the last of the depressing ones, I promise. In fact, it's the last of the 'whoops, gotcha' endings all together. The next one will solve the mystery and put all your evilness-addled minds at ease. XD A unicorn gets candy every time you review. ;)**

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	5. Grand Finale

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**And finally, ALTERNATE ENDING NUMBER FOUR, a.k.a, what **_**really**_** happens. Enjoy. ;)**

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Sam Egan pressed hard on the trigger, sending a whole round of fleeting green lights from his smoking gun.

"_Aaaaagh_, ahhh, hahaaaa! Nooo… It's goin' dark…I'll be avenged, bastards!"

Amid his Elizabethan cries of vanquish, Ryan stumbled and twisted dramatically to Castle's varnished apartment floor. Castle, on the other hand, reached up and peeled off his 'Uncle Sam' Halloween mask to reveal a childish scowl. "Aw, how theatrical was _that_? This is supposed to be _character research_! _Sell_ it!"

Across from them, Esposito let the act of indignant mortal fear drop like a hot rock. He impatiently lowered his laser gun as well. "Says the dude in the Uncle Sam mask."

"It was the closest Sam I could find. There isn't exactly a section called 'serial killer' at the local novelty store," Castle sigh-defended. And after a contemplative moment, he added, "And if there _was_ I don't think they'd let me shop there."

"I suppose it never occurred to you to do it _without_ the face," Ryan pointed out. He pushed off on one arm and got up off the hardwood.

"If it had I would not be me, young Padawan - whoa whoa _hey_, what're you doing? Back on the floor, you're _dead_, I just cosmically rearranged your intestinal system."

"I thought you were going for a do-over?"

"No: the whole point of this is to get inside Egan's head. A serial killer knows there are no do-overs. Unless of course they're a deranged gaming fanatic like in 'The Calm Before The Storm.' Now come _on_, be dead, be dead." Castle's urging wasn't even slightly interrupted or slowed by the others' eyerolls, but Ryan exhaled in defeat and got back down anyway.

"Can I just bring up one more time that you invited us over here for a _Mets_ game, _not_ character-research-laser-tag?" Esposito said.

"A real fan would've known they weren't playing today. Now, aim at me again but make sure I have no idea what you're doing. Egan has to be completely in-the-dark and ready for all contingencies for when Nikki Heat makes her move."

But Esposito wasn't about to start again; not after he'd heard _that_. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa _whoa_. I'm s'posta be _Nikki_? Why aren't I _Ochoa_?"

Castle shrugged. As if all his reasonings were always completely normal. "I needed a stand-in for Heat who knew most of the same gun tricks. I'd be Rook if I weren't Egan."

"Who'm _I_?" Ryan wanted to know.

"Nameless Vic Number Four. I just threw in the 'I shoot your partner' line to get you two more into the plot."

"Oh, nice."

"Come onnnn, the day is wasting! Before you know it one of you'll get a call about a _real_ dead body and unfortunately that's legally more important and then all of this was for nothing."

On the floor, Ryan lifted his arm like dead weight above his face and checked his watch, pushing out a sigh. Esposito shook his head, muttered, "Can't believe you conned us into this," and raised his lasery firearm again…

…Just in time for the door to open.

"All right, you copper, it's just you and…" The drawn-out villainery died on Castle's lips. "…Me." He turned innocently to the new entry. "Detective Beckett. Hi. We were just…"

He trailed off for a second time, because Kate Beckett's slack-jawed stare was pretty full-force, and it was the kind that said it was 'silent processing' time now. She took in the three flashing laser guns, the pushed-aside furniture and the manuscript rolled up in Rick's hand, and finally her eyes landed on Larry, Moe and Curly.

She found the ability to form words again, directing them at the brains of the operation - well…_ha_, okay - while her eyes weren't quite sure _where_ to stop. "I…just came by to pick up the…case photos…used my key…_what're_ you _doing_?"

"We, ah…"

"Oh no, I'm sorry, I should have clarified…what are _these _two doing. _You_, I completely understand."

Castle's sarcastic 'ha ha' face went ignored in favor of the sheepish ones on Ryan and Esposito. The former was quick to get on his feet and stuff his hands in his pockets, while the latter rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck and took a shot at some explanation. "Castle, he… The Mets were on TV, see, and… So then - "

"Research," Ryan broke in, prompting a nod from his partner. He cleared his throat: "You know; real psycho-killer stuff - "

"First-hand experience - "

"Can't really get _that_ from shadowing, so - "

"And then he had the guns, and we - "

"It's…Nikki Heat…she's gonna…disarm this guy - "

"So y'know, we figured we'd…help out."

Somewhere about halfway through that, Beckett had folded her arms and narrowed her eyes suspiciously and just listened. "Uh-_huh_." Spinning a tight degree on her heel, she turned to Castle. "As much as I hate to interrupt Whose Line Is It Anyway, I need back those photos you stole."

"Hey! Why Detective Beckett, I resent the implication. I only brought those home to _review_."

"Fine: stole to review." She spun back to her teammates. "If it's not too much trouble to the Actors' Studio, I need you two back on the phones asap. We need a warrant if we want to get the murder weapon for Evidence." The boys knew better than to do much else but nod, and before Beckett turned to leave, she faced Castle one more time. "If you follow, you bring the photos, and they stay with me." Eyes still on Castle, she pointed at Esposito, biting back the urge to smirk wickedly. "And he can be Nikki Heat all you want, but if he's the one naked on the next cover you can feel free to withhold my advance copy."

"H…hey! Wh…huh: I actually don't know whether to be insulted or relieved at that," Esposito mused.

Ryan clapped him on the shoulder, smirking as he grabbed his coat. "Relieved, bro, always relieved."

"Gah - let's catch up to her before she ditches us with a cab again…." Discarding his laser gear, Castle snatched his own jacket and raced out the door after the law.

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**HA! None of you saw that coming, be honest. XD So! There it is, The Complete Hostage Project, brought to you by the fine people at Championship Vinyl (schizophrenic? **_**Never**_**. xD ). Hope it amused you. If not, well, ApollaCammi made me put it up here. XD Thanks luv.**

**Also, as I say on all of my stories: if there's anyone (ages 14 and over) interested in joining a writing-based Castle roleplaying forum, check out the bolded paragraph in my profile. Thank you.**

**Peace and love, all. And speaking of love, who doesn't love a review? ;D**

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